International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources -- Sirenia Specialist GroupInternational Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources -- Sirenia Specialist Group

Publisher:

IUCN/SSC Sirenia Specialist Group

Place of Publication:

Washington D.CWashington D.C

Publication Date:

April 2005

Frequency:

two no. a year[apr. 1984-]semiannualregular

Subjects

Subject:

Sirenia -- Periodicals ( lcsh )Marine mammals -- Periodicals ( lcsh )

Genre:

periodical ( marcgt )

Notes

Bibliography:

Includes bibliographical references.

Additional Physical Form:

Also issued via the World Wide Web.

Dates or Sequential Designation:

No. 1 (Apr. 1984)-

Issuing Body:

Supported 1984-Apr. 1992 by the Species Survival Commission of IUCN, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission; Oct. 1992 by the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission & U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Apr. 1993-Oct. 1994 by the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission; <Oct. 1995>- by the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission and Sea World, Inc.

After many months of postponing consideration of a petition to downlist Florida
manatees from "Endangered" to "Threatened" status under Florida law, the Florida Fish
and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC) has just taken a step toward such action
(see story in this issue). Although the Commission's vote at its April meeting did not
directly affect manatees, it preserved the objectionable regulatory language according to
which "Threatened" in Florida is equivalent to what the rest of the planet calls
"Endangered". The implication is clear, and the stage is now set: application of this lingo to
manatees will sooner or later result in downgrading the degree of state protection for which
they are deemed eligible.
Since we already editorialized at length on this topic in Sirenews Nos. 38 (October
2002) and 42 (October 2004), little needs to be added at this time. Even though federal
protection for manatees remains in place (for now; but see news items below), and any
move by the state to actually downlist manatees is still several months and several

Sirenews No. 43

APRIL 2005

April 2005

procedural steps away, it is nonetheless disturbing that the FWCC continues to ignore the
torrent of scientific criticism provoked by its idiosyncratic twisting of well-established,
globally-accepted terminology.
On its website, the FWCC defends its language on the grounds that "these names
are embedded in numerous Florida statutes, FWC rules and local ordinances. ... FWC staff
concluded that changing this terminology would be difficult, expensive and could lead to
unintended problems with those statutes that might, indeed, reduce protections. In the end,
staff believes the focus should be on identifying and protecting imperiled species, not on
what the categories of imperilment are called. ... Under the current and proposed
processes, when a species is reclassified it receives a species-specific management plan that
prescribes the actions and protections needed to recover the species. As such, even if a
species is de-listed, it will still receive the protections necessary to protect the species."
Begging your pardon, but in the present political climate, this seems just a bit ...
well, naive. We have legions of lawyers and lawmakers who are paid to get the language in
our laws right; haggling endlessly over words is their bread and butter. Species-specific
management plans? These are products of lengthy negotiation among numerous
stakeholders, and as such are not immune to political influence. Even when a sound
management plan exists, it takes more than a paper plan to ensure protection: the plan has
to be backed by political support and political will, or it will not be implemented as
countless unenforced environmental laws in developing and developed countries bear
witness. Names and labels are critical in galvanizing (or undermining) political support,
and when you see someone trying to rewrite the dictionary in the midst of a political
debate, you know it's not an accident.
In the end, this is far from being just a harmless quibble over words. The Florida
manatee's first line of protection is the public's recognition that this species is, in fact,
precariously balanced between survival and extinction, and endangered by long-term trends
that will be difficult or impossible to reverse. Downlisting of manatees by the state would
significantly weaken this line of defense; it would undermine efforts to implement
additional protection measures, even as threats from development, boating, and other
human activities increase without limit; and it would hand manatee opponents a huge
propaganda victory that would immediately be used to mislead the public about the
manatee's true status.
Those opponents understand very well the significance of a designation like
"Endangered", and they want a public-relations label that evokes less urgency, no matter
what the actual data show. Although they have signaled that they seek only to block future
protection measures and not overturn existing ones, don't bet they won't change their
minds once the re-labeling is done and the State of Florida has "officially certified" that
manatees are no longer "Endangered", but merely "Threatened".
The threat level has just gone up. DPD

SIRENIA SPECIALIST GROUP MEMBERSHIP
Based on discussions at the last meeting of the SSG in December 2004, a new
membership list has been developed:

Over the course of the last decade, marine and coastal applications of GIS and
remote sensing have gained wide acceptance in the scientific and GIS communities. In
recognition of this growing trend, the GIS certificate program at San Francisco State
University is offering a course dedicated to those interested in incorporating GIS/remote
sensing technologies in the study of the marine and coastal zones.
Previous offerings of this class have been very successful for both student and
instructor alike and we are proud to offer it to the community for the fourth time.
The course is entitled: GIS and Remote Sensing Applications for Coastal and
Marine Scientists, Geog 9023, Schedule No. 95083, held 14-18 June at San Francisco
State University.
Days 1 & 2: Introduction to GIS. This course is an introduction to the concepts
and uses of GIS as it relates to coastal and marine science. Lecture topics include history
of GIS, GIS data structures and sources of data, GIS tools, vendors and software,
applications, and resources. Exercises include spatial data display and query, map
generation, and simple spatial analysis using ArcGIS software. Instructor: Ellen Hines
teaches GIS at San Francisco State University. Her research on marine mammals includes
studies on dugongs in southern Thailand, gray whales in British Columbia, and harbor
seals in San Francisco Bay. Her research interests include the integrated use of GIS and
remote sensing in delineation of marine mammal habitat.
Days 3 & 4: Remote Sensing Course. This course is an introduction to the
physical principles of electromagnetic radiation through earth's atmosphere and remote
sensing sensors relevant for coastal and marine studies. The course is designed for
beginning level users. Instructor: Toby Garfield is an Associate Professor of Geosciences
and conducts his research at the SFSU Environmental Campus, the Romberg Tiburon
Center for Environmental Studies. His research interests include oceanic circulation
along continental margins and estuarine circulation. His fieldwork emphasizes combining
traditional data collection techniques with remote sensing data collection.
Day 5: Hands on! Bring your own field data, or we can supply you with material
to work with.

Sirenews No. 43

April 2005

Cost for the 5 days of instruction is US$1095.00. This course is offered through
the SFSU GIS Certificate Program (http://gis.sfsu.edu/cert) in the College of Extended
Learning (http://www.cel.sfsu.edu/); 4.0 continuing education units (CEU) can be earned.
To guarantee a space in the class, please register early. Class size is limited. A list of
accommodations is available.
For further information, please contact Ellen Hines (ehines@sfsu.edu; tel. 1-415-
405-0921) or Barry Nickel (bnickel@sfsu.edu; tel. 1-415-338-3566).

LOCAL NEWS

BRAZIL

Another Amazonian Manatee
Captive Birth. On 6 April 2005,
another female manatee gave birth to the
fifth Amazonian manatee conceived and
born in captivity at the Aquatic Mammal
Laboratory of INPA in Manaus. This
time it is a female calf. The baby is
feeding without problems. Mother and
baby are well. The calf's name will be
chosen in a contest with the children
from local schools to increase the
awareness of the need to conserve these
animals. Vera da Silva

FLORIDA
(NOTE: For detailed coverage of manatee
matters in Florida, read Manatee News
Quarterly, published by the Florida Fish
and Wildlife Conservation Commission.)

Florida Continues March
Toward Downlisting Manatees. On 14
April 2005, the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission (FWCC)
voted to adopt amendments to state rule
criteria that govern the listing and
delisting of Florida's imperiled species.
These amendments only slightly
improved the rule criteria, and fell short
of the substantive changes that manatee
advocates and other critics considered
necessary to protect endangered wildlife.
This action opens the way to potential
downlisting of Florida manatees from

"Endangered" to "Threatened" status,
based purely on semantics and without
any actual improvement in the animals'
prognosis for survival.
After conducting a final public
hearing on the proposal, during the first
day of their two-day meeting in
Tallahassee, the Commissioners voted to
adopt updated listing criteria developed
by the World Conservation Union
(IUCN) since 1999. In addition, the
Commission will ask IUCN experts to
train FWCC scientists in how to apply
the criteria. The Commissioners
expressed their confidence in the
updated process, but in
acknowledgement of many stakeholders'
concerns about how it might impact
certain species, they pledged to review
the listing process if unforeseen
problems arise during its
implementation.
(The Commission is a five-
member board appointed by the
governor to oversee hunting, fishing and
wildlife protection.)
The Commissioners also voted to
lift the present moratorium on
considering classification of listed
species; but their decision does not
immediately affect the listing status of
any of the 118 animal species classified
as Endangered, Threatened, or Species
of Special Concern in the state list -
including manatees, for which a

Sirenews No. 43

April 2005

biological status review by the state has
not yet been completed.
According to FWCC endangered
species coordinator Dan Sullivan, a key
strength of the proposed process is how
appropriate recovery actions will be
identified and put in place. Whenever
the agency considers listing,
reclassifying or delisting a species, he
said, FWCC staff will develop a
management plan tailored to that
individual species' needs. The plan will
outline species-specific protections,
replacing less-effective blanket
prohibitions of the past, which were tied
to categories rather than species'
individual needs. The new updates also
will strengthen the process by involving
a biological review panel throughout the
evaluation process and requiring an
additional peer review of that panel's
assessment. Details on the proposed
updates are available at.
But critics are not convinced.
As reported at length in Sirenews
No. 38 (October 2002), Florida adopted
some years ago the basic listing criteria
used by the IUCN for classifying
imperiled species and the threats they
face. What Florida has not adopted,
however, are the names for the
categories in the IUCN classification.
Instead, Florida's wildlife managers
modified the IUCN language so that in
order for a species to qualify as
"Endangered" in Florida, it would have
to meet the IUCN standards for
"Critically Endangered"; whereas a
species that was "Endangered" in the
eyes of the IUCN and the rest of the
world would be called merely
"Threatened" within the boundaries of
the State of Florida.
Using one of the state's
listing/delisting criteria, a species would

have to undergo or be at risk of
undergoing an 80% decline in its
population in order to be listed as
"Endangered". Listed species that have
undergone precipitous declines
historically, but are not continuing to
decline at an 80% rate, could be
downlisted despite the fact that their
numbers are only a small fraction of
their original populations. An 80%
decline could easily cause a species to
go extinct before conservation measures
could be implemented. Population
biologists point out that these criteria are
particularly inappropriate for large, long-
lived marine animals like manatees and
sea turtles.
Because of this FWCC action,
Florida's endangered species, such as
manatees, panthers, and sea turtles,
could potentially be reclassified as
"Threatened" or receive an even lower
classification all because of this
misalignment of category names and
definitions. Now that the rule
amendments have been adopted, FWCC
plans to move forward with the
completion of its manatee biological
status review precipitated in 2001 by a
petition from an angler's lobby group,
the Coastal Conservation Association.
Patrick Rose, a former state
wildlife official and now Director of
Government Relations for the Save the
Manatee Club, commented that "State
decision-makers are listening to special
interests like never before. They have
already downlisted the endangered red-
cockaded woodpecker to a 'Species of
Special Concern'. It will only be a
matter of time before the state receives
more petitions from special interest
groups to downlist other species whose
habitat requirements get in the way of
developers' profit-making. Sales prices
for individual boat slips built over

Sirenews No. 43

April 2005

submerged lands held in public trust
have soared to over US$1 million in
some cases. With so much money to be
made at the public's expense, it's no
wonder that the [state regulatory]
agencies are being pressured by the
legislature to open the floodgates of
development without adequate checks
and balances to protect the environment
and especially our imperiled species."
Fortunately, manatees in Florida
are still protected by federal legislation
including the Marine Mammal
Protection Act and the Endangered
Species Act. As long as the perennial
attempts to weaken these federal laws
are kept at bay, manatee protection
measures that are already in place should
remain. But even at the federal level, the
possibility of downlisting the manatee
has just been put back on the table with
the announcement (with less than a 2-
month deadline for submission of
information) of a review of the
manatee's status by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (FWS) (see related
story below).
Also less than encouraging are
two personnel matters on the federal
level. U.S. Interior Secretary Gale
Norton has named as acting director of
FWS one Matthew J. Hogan, a former
chief lobbyist for the Safari Club
International an organization that
encourages the hunting of big game,
including endangered species, as well as
promoting wildlife conservation.
FWS, in turn, has expanded the
interagency Manatee Recovery Team
from its traditional makeup of some 15-
20 biologists and wildlife managers,
inflating it to a membership of 120 that
for the first time includes representatives
of the boating, dock-building, and
development industries in addition to
manatee experts. The Recovery Team is

charged with making recommendations
on manatee management and listing to
Secretary Norton.
Given all these developments,
especially in the context of the June
deadline for submissions to FWS's
manatee status review, there is growing
concern among manatee defenders.
"People are going to think that
any species undergoing a downward
category change is on the road to
recovery purely because the FWCC is
obstinately refusing to align the IUCN
categories and names for these
categories with their own
listing/delisting guidelines," said
biologist Patti Thompson, the Save the
Manatee Club's Director of Science and
Conservation. "No matter what happens
on the state level, manatees will still be
listed as endangered by the federal
government. Unfortunately, special
interests will be pushing for species'
reclassifications as a way to rid
themselves of what they believe to be
excessive regulations," said Thompson.
Earlier, a state review of 24 listed
species found that a majority of the
species could be downlisted or even
delisted when the state's flawed criteria
were applied. It is possible that the
Florida panther, with an estimated 80
individuals living in the wild, could fall
down a category from endangered to
threatened status. The black bear would
have a good chance of being delisted
altogether, paving the way for the bear to
once again be hunted. The federal
Marine Mammal Commission has stated
that the northern right whale the most
endangered marine mammal in America,
with a population of fewer than 350
individuals would likely fall down a
category as well under the state's too-
stringent criteria. David Laist of the
Marine Mammal Commission agreed

Sirenews No. 43

April 2005

that the FWCC action "establishes an
unreasonably low standard of protection
for endangered species" that is
"inconsistent with federal law."
"Manatees and, in fact, all of the
state's wildlife will continue to face
mounting pressures from Florida's fast-
paced growth," said Rose. "To
illegitimately downlist a species won't
do anything to protect our wildlife. We
want the state to base the biological
status of any species on scientific
benchmarks, including stable or
increasing survival rates, comprehensive
habitat protection, and significant
reduction of human-related mortality." -
DPD

Fish and Wildlife Service
Announces 5-year Status Review for
the Florida Manatee. The U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced
on 14 April 2005 that it is conducting a
five-year review of the Florida manatee,
which is federally protected as
endangered under the U.S. Endangered
Species Act (ESA). The five-year review
will assess the best available scientific
and commercial information to
determine how the manatee is faring
since its original listing in 1967.
According to Dave Hankla, the
Service's field supervisor for its North
Florida Ecological Services Office in
Jacksonville, the Service is particularly
interested in new information which has
become available since the last revision
to the Florida Manatee Recovery Plan in
2001.
"There has been a tremendous
amount of effort put into manatee
conservation and research over the last
several years," Hankla said, "and this is
an opportunity for our biologists and
conservation managers to conduct a
comprehensive review of the latest and

best scientific and commercial data
available."
In the case of the Florida
manatee, the Service is looking for new
information related to five specific areas:
1) species biology, such as popu-
lation trends, distribution, demographics
and genetics;
2) habitat conditions such as
amount, distribution and suitability;
3) conservation measures which
have been implemented that benefit the
species;
4) threat status and trends; and
5) other new information, data or
corrections, such as improved analytical
methods, nomenclatural changes, or
identification of errors in the information
contained in the original listing.
To be of greatest use to Service
biologists conducting the review, any
new information submitted should be
supported by documentation such as
maps, bibliographic references, methods
used to gather the data, and/or copies of
any pertinent publications, reports or
letters from knowledgeable sources.
Five-year reviews allow the
Service staff to determine if sufficient
information is available to warrant a
recommendation to reclassify a species
or even take it off the ESA list
altogether. According to Hankla, any
recommendation to change the manatee's
status would only be considered if
substantiated by the data and would not
be made without due consideration.
"If, after reviewing all the
information, we determine nothing has
changed, the manatee's status will
remain Federally-listed as endangered,"
Hankla said. "However, if the data
substantiates that a reclassification or de-
listing is warranted, we could
recommend either. Any such decision to
recommend reclassification or de-listing

Sirenews No. 43

April 2005

would require a separate rulemaking
process which would include ample
opportunity for public review and
comment."
The Federal Register notice
announcing this solicitation of new
information and data is available online
at or may be
requested by e-mail to, by fax at 904-
232-2404, by mail at U. S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, Attn: Manatee Five-
year Review, 6620 Southpoint Drive,
Suite 310, Jacksonville, FL 32216-0958,
or by telephone at 904-232-2580.
New information and comments
may be mailed, hand-delivered, faxed, or
submitted electronically. Please mail or
deliver comments to the address or fax
number listed above. Comments
submitted electronically should be
embedded in the body of the e-mail
message itself or attached (please see
Notice for details), and should not use
special characters or encryption. Please
include "Attn: Manatee 5-year Review"
in your subject line, and your full name,
return address, and, if appropriate, your
company, government agency, or
organization you represent, in your e-
mail message. Comments submitted to will receive an
automated response confirming receipt
of your message.
In order for biologists and
conservation managers to have sufficient
time to consider any new information,
the information and any supporting data
or documents must be received by the
Service no later than 13 June 2005. -
(FWS press release)

New Manatee Biological
Population Assessment Released. -
[ED. NOTE: The following are excerpts
from the summary of the latest annual

report from the Manatee Population
Status Working Group (MPSWG), an
advisory body to the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (USFWS) composed of
scientists from the U.S. Geological
Survey, Marine Mammal Commission,
USFWS, Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission, Montana
State University, Coastal Conservation
Association, Save the Manatee Club, and
Wildlife Trust. The MPSWG is the most
authoritative source there is on the status
of the Florida manatee.]
... The Northwest and Upper St.
Johns River subpopulations exhibit very
similar dynamics: mortality is low,
reproduction is high, and subpopulation
growth rate is positive. Most known
mortality of non-adults is from natural
causes, while adult mortality is due
primarily to human-related causes,
mostly watercraft. Because these two
populations are small and because they
appear to depend on a small number of
winter aggregation sites, relatively small
fluctuations in habitat or the number of
mortality and birth events could
substantially influence population
growth rate and trend. At the present
time, the observed growth rates suggest
that these subpopulations are below the
environmental carrying capacity for
manatees and additional growth can
reasonably be expected. ...
The status and dynamics of the
Atlantic subpopulation are less clear
than the Northwest or Upper St. Johns
River subpopulations. Adult survival
and reproductive rates are moderate, but
evidence regarding recent growth rate of
the subpopulation is inconclusive: it is
possible that the population is growing
slowly, but also possible that apparent
growth in the early 1990s has tapered off
and the subpopulation may be stable or
declining. The manatee population

Sirenews No. 43

April 2005

growth rate estimates from two different
analyses vary, and resolution of the
difference will require additional study.
For adults, watercraft-related mortality
as a proportion of all sources of
mortality is more than in the Northwest
and somewhat less than the Upper St.
Johns River, but because the total
mortality rate is higher for the Atlantic
Coast (as indicated by lower survival
rates), watercraft mortality has a greater
impact on population dynamics than in
the Northwest or Upper St. Johns River
subpopulations. Mortality of non-adult
animals appears to be primarily from
natural causes. ...
The Southwest subpopulation
appears to be the most vulnerable to
decline. Estimates of adult survival are
low and the growth rate estimates
indicate the subpopulation appears to be
declining. For non-adults, most
mortality is natural. For adults,
watercraft mortality is the highest ranked
cause of death. The Southwest
subpopulation is unique in that it faces
major, periodic mortality events due to
red tide. Red tide is responsible for
nearly one-fourth of known-cause
mortality across ages. Based on the
available data, it appears that if this
subpopulation is to stabilize or indeed
increase in size, it cannot sustain any
further increases in mortality. Two
factors make it difficult to assess some
aspects of the status of the Southwest
subpopulation. First, the time series of
data is shortest for this subpopulation,
thus the survival and reproductive
estimates are less precise than for the
other subpopulations. Second, the
subpopulation is found in diverse
habitats from Tampa Bay to Everglades
National Park, and demographic data are
lacking for individuals in the
southernmost parts of the region. ...

State-wide patterns concerning
mortality risk can be discerned by
comparing the relative causes of death in
the four subpopulations. For adults in
each subpopulation the most prominent
source of mortality is watercraft
collision. The second ranked cause of
death varies by subpopulation. In the
Northwest it is cold stress; in the Upper
St. Johns River it is crushing by gates or
locks; in the Atlantic it is unspecified
natural causes; and in the Southwest it is
red tide. For non-adults in all
subpopulations, perinatal death is the
leading cause of mortality with
watercraft collisions ranked second.
Cold stress ranked third for non-adults in
all subpopulations except the Southwest,
where red tide is the third leading cause
of mortality. ...
The Southwest and Atlantic
Coast subpopulations show larger
uncertainty in demographic rates than
the Northwest and Upper St. Johns
River. Such differences are expected.
The natural world is intrinsically
variable, and each region is
characterized by its own set of
confounding factors regarding data
collection, manatee behavior and
analysis of population dynamics. The
MPSWG makes several
recommendations in this report to reduce
uncertainty and improve estimates.
Analyses that incorporate data from
multiple sources such as photo-
identification, aerial surveys, carcass
recovery, and genetic markers will be
important. These new approaches,
however, will require development of
new data collection protocols and
analysis, which may take years of
directed effort. New applications should
be pursued, while at the same time
maintaining and improving monitoring

Sirenews No. 43

April 2005

for annual assessments under current
methods. ...
The MPSWG evaluated available
manatee data and analyses to determine
whether they were adequate to assess
recovery under the existing demographic
recovery criteria as provided in the
Florida manatee recovery plan.
Available data and analyses are largely
adequate for assessing the survival rate
criterion; they are inadequate, however,
for assessing the reproductive criterion
as written and vary in adequacy for
assessing the growth rate criterion for
the different subpopulations.

Are Thirsty Cities Thwarting
Manatee Recovery Efforts? The
Florida manatee's prospects for survival
may depend less on boaters -- who for
decades have been scorned for mauling
the animals with propellers and boat
hulls -- and more on the unquenchable
thirst of booming cities like Orlando,
Tampa and Fort Myers, the federal
official overseeing recovery efforts said
yesterday.
That surprising assessment by
Dave Hankla, field supervisor of the
Fish and Wildlife Service's North
Florida Ecological Services Office, sets
the stage for what promises to be a
robust debate over the service's five-year
status review for one of Florida's most
enduring wildlife symbols.
Other findings expected from the
review are that manatees would not
survive without hot water discharges
from power plants, and that recurring red
tides along the Gulf Coast threaten to set
recovery back decades, FWS officials
said. Yet of all the marine mammal's
threats, the one with the least chance of
reversal is Florida's exploding
population, which is expected to reach
20.7 million by 2025, and the resulting

drawdown of underground water
resources.
Freshwater springs, extending
from the Floridan aquifer in the east-
central part of the state, are essential to
manatees during the winter, where they
congregate by the hundreds in warmer,
shallow inlets to stave off hypothermia.
Without the warmer water, the animals
would experience mass die-offs, federal
officials say.
"The more water you take out,
the less chance these natural springs
have of replenishing themselves. And if
the warm water isn't there, there's a good
chance these animals will freeze to
death," Hankla said in a telephone
interview.
Such is the complex balance
between human and wildlife needs in
Florida, one of the most biologically
diverse places in North America, and
home to more federally protected species
than all but three other states --
California, Hawaii and Alabama.
In the past month alone, two
federal courts have ruled FWS failed to
adequately protect the endangered
Florida panther and eight other species
(Greenwire, April 7). Those rulings
followed FWS's finding late last month
that the American crocodile had
recovered sufficiently to revise its
protective status from "endangered" to
"threatened" (Greenwire, March 28)....
Some observers, like Pat Rose of
the nonprofit Save the Manatee Club,
believe the manatee will be the next
high-profile Florida species proposed for
relisting, even if the science does not
justify it. "There is tremendous political
pressure to have the Service come up
with new [recovery] criteria so that the
manatee can be downgraded" to
threatened, Rose said.

Sirenews No. 43

April 2005

Hankla denied such claims,
noting that FWS is meeting an obligation
it made in 2001 when it last revised the
manatee's recovery plan. "There's really
nothing behind this," he said. "We're
doing it to reel in all the statistics and
see where things stand."
Depending upon who is doing
the counting, the manatee's status varies
wildly -- from not meeting FWS
recovery goals to far surpassing Florida's
recent historic baseline for manatees.
Ted Forsgren, director of the
Coastal Conservation Association of
Florida, which represents 10,000
saltwater anglers, said his members see
more manatees in Florida's inlets and
bays than ever. Yet he complained "there
is no measurable biological goal for the
manatee herd," and therefore no end to
the regulations that many anglers believe
are excessive and unwarranted.
Slow-speed boating zones have
been adopted across a quarter million
acres of peninsular Florida, Forsgren
said, affecting virtually every
recreational, commercial and industrial
waterway in the region. He added that
the Coastal Conservation Association
avoided the manatee issue for years until
lawsuits filed in 2000 called on
regulators to impose new regulations on
115 waterways where manatees were
believed to live or migrate, including
"some of the premier saltwater fishing
areas of the state."
As a member of a federal
advisory committee for manatee
recovery, Forsgren is pressing FWS to
revise its approach to determining the
species' status. "There are challenges,
there's no doubt about it," he said of the
upcoming status review process. "But
we've argued that without some way to
remove emotion from the discussion,
and finding a way to better quantify

manatee success or failure, all you're
going to do is argue about this forever."
But boating regulations are just
one component of the manatee recovery
program, and in the end possibly one of
the easiest to resolve. The more difficult
problem is ensuring that manatees do not
perish from hypothermia in the winter
months, when water temperatures in
peninsular Florida can drop into 50-59
degrees Fahrenheit.
For years, manatees have relied
on both natural and manmade sources of
warm water to avoid winter stresses.
These include warm springs that emerge
from the Floridan aquifer as well as hot
water discharges from power plants that
are scattered throughout the manatee's
range.
Virtually all of the state's electric
utilities -- including Florida Power &
Light (FPL), Progress Energy, and
Tampa Electric Company (TECO) --
now manage water discharges from their
generators' turbine-cooling systems to
aid manatees. At some power plants, like
FPL's Cape Canaveral Plant on the
Indian River east of Orlando, manatees
have been known to congregate by the
hundreds in waters warmed by FPL's
warm water discharges. The same is true
for the company's Riviera Plant in Palm
Beach County and its Fort Myers plant
on the Gulf Coast.
"From a utility's perspective it's a
very complicated issue," said Winifred
Perkins, FPL's manager of
environmental relations. "As the state's
largest electricity provider, we can't
dismiss this. We do what we have to
do."
Currently that means adhering to
a wastewater discharge permit clause
calling for five FPL plants to provide a
continuous source of warm water to
manatees through the winter months.

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April 2005

Similar measures are in place at the
state's other large utilities, like Progress
Energy and TECO.
Dave Bruzek, a spokesman for
Progress Energy, which operates three
power plants on the Gulf Coast, said the
wastewater permits "were negotiated
with the state to maximize the use of
those plants while minimizing effects to
manatees.... The company is more than
willing to do that as long as those
constraints do not threaten the reliability
of our electric service."
With near universal agreement,
even among environmentalists, that
power plants provide an essential benefit
to manatees and that warm water will
continue to flow from discharge pipes to
wintering areas, concern about water
resources has shifted to broader
questions of water consumption in
Florida.
Hankla said securing clean,
warm water -- particularly from natural
springs -- is the top issue facing manatee
recovery this century. "The animals don't
go out and randomly look for warm
water. The adults teach their offspring
where these water sources are," he said.
Another pressing issue is red
tides, a form of toxic algae that can
poison manatees who come into contact
with it. Some believe red tides, which
tend to form in warm waters, are related
to nutrient loading and other forms of
human pollution.
At current population growth
rates, officials expect the Floridan
aquifer to be drawn down more
regularly, which combined with other
events like droughts, could pre-empt the
natural feeding of warm springs that
manatees need to survive.
Teresa Monson, a spokeswoman
for the St. Johns River Water
Management District, which includes

booming Orlando, acknowledged the
district's "dramatic increase in demand
on water resources over the last few
decades." She described the St. Johns
region as having "a very productive
aquifer," but added, "At the same time,
we have quite a lot of demand on it, so
it's one of those ongoing battles." She
said the water management district
works closely with the state to ensure
that withdrawals do not exceed safe
levels for wildlife and the environment.
Rose, of the Save the Manatee
Club, noted that a number of warm
springs have been lost over the last 50
years due to population growth and fresh
water demand. And those that remain
face imminent risk from overuse,
landscape alterations, and agricultural
and wastewater pollution.
"When you go out and add
thousands and thousands of homes in
these recharge areas, these people are
not going to go away," Rose said. "They
may find other sources of drinking
water. But if that doesn't happen, it's the
natural springs and ultimately the
manatees that are going to suffer." -
Daniel Cusick (Greenwire Southeast
reporter)

Owner to Sell Landmark Crystal
Springs, Florida, Manatee-Themed
Store. -- By draping a long, uncut piece
of plush fabric from the tail to the mouth
on the bottom of the stuffed animal,
Marie Bienkowski found that it gave her
plush manatees' mouths an unrivaled,
distinct look.
To be honest, no one else made
stuffed manatees back then. But the
former fifth-grade science teacher
stitched her first while on maternity
leave, and the next thing she knew
everyone wanted one. Even Ty Warner,
the creator of the famed Beanie Babies,
she claims, used her patented method to

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April 2005

stitch his own version of stuffed
manatees.
From Bienkowski's garage, the
Manatee Toy Co. has grown into a
downtown Crystal River landmark that
continues to draw customers worldwide.
For Bienkowski, it's more than she could
have dreamed of, and it's something
she's had to let go of this year after she,
as founder, sold the store to another
manatee lover who will continue to cater
to those seeking anything that resembles
the gentle sea giants.
Inside the small homey store
with wood floors and Jimmy Buffett
songs playing on a constant loop,
manatees adorn baby clothes, wine
corks, mugs, drain stoppers, champagne
flutes, shot glasses, wind chimes,
figurines, backpacks, shopping bags,
baby bags, cutting boards, Christmas
cards, postcards, street signs, T-shirts,
sweat shirts, license plates and salt
shakers.
But before there was all this,
there were two stuffed manatee dolls.
Bienkowski, who has a
background in design, stitched them and
gave them to her daughter Nicole in
1981. The 3-year-old dragged them
everywhere, naming the larger gray toy
Mandy and the smaller, plush one Sweet
Tea.
"People saw them," Bienkowski
said. "Someone saw them at Port
Paradise Dive Shop, and they asked if
they could have three." Soon, every dive
shop in the city -- which claims to be
"Home of the Manatee" -- wanted to sell
some.
By the next year, Bienkowski
had sold a few hundred. Over the next
decade, her small company sold the
stuffed manatees wholesale out of her
Crystal River garage, where Bienkowski
drew up the designs, a hired sewer

stitched them and the animals were
packed and shipped.
"My kids were babies, and that's
how they learned how to count,"
Bienkowski said. "Twelve manatees
went into a box."
In 1991, the Manatee Toy Co.
moved to its current location, where
offerings of just five sizes of toy
manatees grew to include gator
Christmas stockings, manatee puppets
and stuffed shrimp until the store
became the menagerie it is today.
Guests from far away are not
uncommon at the store, and a guest book
bears testament to the world travelers
who have stopped in. Recent pages show
customers from Wyoming, Louisiana,
Oregon, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and
Germany. Once, a German man told
Bienkowski he'd be gracious enough to
sign her book, thinking he'd be the only
European to grace her pages.
Just above his signature were
signatures of people from Finland, Japan
and Colombia.
"Every day is unique in here,"
Bienkowski said, with a tinge of regret.
She recalled the old movie stars, cancer
survivors and famous authors she has
met and the conversations she has had
that make her wish she had kept a daily
journal.
But it's too late. Bienkowski sold
the store on Nov. 15 to Helen Anderson,
a former laboratory supervisor, who
wanted to run her own business.
Bienkowski said she wants to spend
more time with her grown children,
design more stuffed animals and firm up
her manatee patent with a lawyer and
begin asking other companies to stop
using it. She'd rather her manatee design
be used on toys that have a connection to
the city of Crystal River, Bienkowski
said in a schoolteacher's soft, firm tone.

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April 2005

She also hopes to go back into
teaching.
But during the first three weeks
of December, Bienkowski helped
Anderson make the transition as the new
store owner. She taught Anderson that
pink flamingo hats sell, how the price-
tag gun works, that yellow items are
popular (though Anderson doesn't like
the color) and how to get in touch with
vendors.
"You just don't give your baby to
anybody," Bienkowski said.
Anderson, a former customer
who bought the store as soon as she
found out it was for sale, said she loves
manatees because of their "sheer size --
the primitiveness of them."
"And their cute 'lil blue eyes,"
Bienkowski added like a proud mother.
- Justin George (St. Petersburg Times,
7 January 2005)

INDONESIA

Recent Dugong Research in
Balikpapan Bay, Indonesia. I would
like to report on a recent study
implemented by Paulien de Bruyn,
Budiono, Danielle Kreb and the
undersigned (2003) in Balikpapan Bay,
East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The study
was a collaboration between the NGO
RASI, the Mulawarman University
(Indonesia), and the Institute of
Environmental Sciences of Leiden
University, The Netherlands.
The main research effort has
been done in Balikpapan Bay, East
Kalimantan, during 2002, while
continued observations were made
during 2003 and 2004. It is the intention
to continue this research also during the
coming years.
Our research covered three
aspects of the ecology of Balikpapan
Bay: a) water quality, b) the presence of

seagrass beds, c) observations of
dugongs.
Dugong observations were made
from an engine-powered boat. On this
boat, four persons would observe, each
at a different angle from the boat for one
hour, while the engine was switched off.
Two persons would search with
binoculars, two would search without
binoculars. Every 15 minutes the
binoculars would switch between the
persons. In this way, the entire area
surrounding the boat was covered with
and without binoculars without wearing
out the persons too much for them to
stay concentrated.
Dugongs were spotted 15 times
in Balikpapan Bay. Dugongs were
mostly seen swimming alone, but a
group of three dugongs was also seen,
and on one occasion a mother with her
neonate was seen. Though the research
area in Balikpapan Bay contained three
seagrass fields, all dugongs were seen
near one of these fields next to
Kariangau, a small fishermen's village
within the vicinity of the State Oil
Refinery.
We found seagrass in different
areas, but only in shallow water. Most
seagrass beds were small and coverage
was low; only three seagrass beds were
large (2500, 1500 and 2000 m2). In
deeper parts of the bay and parts where a
thick layer of mud was on the bottom, no
seagrass would grow. In addition,
turbidity in the Bay was found to be
medium to high, and historical data
showed that the Bay had been severely
affected by oil pollution in the past.
Balikpapan Bay, East
Kalimantan, is situated next to the city of
Balikpapan. Some activities around this
city are oil refining, timber harvesting,
and shrimp farming. These last two
activities cause more mud to be flushed

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April 2005

into the bay, either by taking away the
trees on the hills around the bay, or (for
the shrimp farms) by reducing the
amount of mangrove forest around the
bay, which decreases the buffer zone for
the mud. The foundation Proyek Pesisir
(a NGO with financial support from
USAID) shows that per year 68,669 tons
of sediment are washed into the bay
(Proyek-Pesisir 2002).
Our observations show that the
mud in the bay forms a threat for the
seagrass in two ways, both by forming a
thick muddy layer on parts of the bay
bottom on which nothing grows, and by
making the bay more turbid, so the
sunlight does not reach the bottom of the
bay anymore. In addition, historical data
show impact of oil pollution on both the
mangrove ecosystem and seagrass beds.
Local fishermen also confirm
that the amount of seagrass and the
number of dugongs have declined in the
last ten years. They also say they do not
hunt the dugong. Hans de long

SIERRA LEONE

The West African Manatee in
Sierra Leone. In January-February
2005 a waterbird census in all coastal
wetlands of Sierra Leone was carried
out. All larger estuaries were visited,
including the Scarcies estuary, the Sierra
Leone River estuary, Yawri Bay, and the
Sherbro Island estuary. During this
waterbird survey most mudflats,
sandbanks and shallows were visited by
boat. All areas have a strong tidal
influence and are characterized by
brackish habitats with muddy or sandy
soils. The shallows are bordered by

mangrove forests and especially in the
Scarcies area with rice fields.
At one location a manatee was
observed. The animal lifted its head
twice above the water and went down
under when the boat approached too
close. It was observed in troubled, less
than 1.5 m deep salt water close to the
shore of Yelibuya Island at the Great
Scarcies River mouth (080 57.037' N,
130 15.429' W).
Apart from this observation, 11
fishing villages along the coast were
visited, and interviews with local
fishermen were organized in order to get
information about wildlife and related
hunting pressure. These interviews
showed manatees still to occur along the
entire coast in all estuaries, especially in
the Scarcies area and the Sherbro Island
region. The animals seem to move quite
far inland, and it was stated by locals
that manatees are more common in the
rainy season (June-August). However,
more accurate information about spatial
and temporal movements is urgently
needed. Unfortunately, manatees are
hunted intensively in all wetlands. They
are captured for consumption with
special traps constructed in creeks. In
one village the local hunters mentioned
two captures in the last two weeks. We
got the strong impression the species is
severely threatened in Sierra Leone.
Therefore, the high hunting pressure
needs immediate attention. Jan van
der Winden and Alhaji Siaka (Working
Group, International Waterbird and
Wetland Research (WIWO), The
Netherlands, and The Conservation
Society of Sierra Leone (CSSL); e-mail:)

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April 2005

ABSTRACTS

The following abstract is of a paper presented at the 64th annual meeting of the
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Denver, Colorado, 6 November 2004:

Eocene and Oligocene Evolution and Structure of the Aquatic Herbivore Adaptive Zone in the West
Atlantic and Caribbean
M. Clementz1, D. P. Domning2, L. G. Barnes3, and B. L. Beatty4
(1. Smithsonian Inst. Marine Station, Fort Pierce, FL; 2. Howard Univ., Washington, DC; 3. Natural
History Museum of Los Angeles County, CA; 4. Univ. of Kansas, Lawrence, KS)
Modem marine ecosystems support fewer herbivorous mammals than their terrestrial counterparts,
and include only four nonsympatric species of Sirenia (e.g., sea cows, dugongs, and manatees). Yet, the
diversity of aquatic herbivores through most of the Cenozoic was typically higher, encompassing periods
when multiple species co-inhabited the same regions, including species other than sirenians (i.e.,
desmostylians, xenarthrans). With so many large mammal species foraging within a single locality,
available resources of aquatic vegetation were likely to have been finely partitioned among herbivores,
creating several distinct feeding niches. We have begun to define these feeding niches using features of
cranial morphology, enamel carbon isotope values, and dental microwear as evidence of dietary
preferences. Together, these independent lines of dietary evidence allow us to explore long-term patterns
in the appearance and diversification of these niches, providing insight into the development and structure
of ancient aquatic communities. Three key regions we plan to study include the West Atlantic-Caribbean,
Tethys-Mediterranean, and Eastern Pacific, all of which were sites of diverse aquatic herbivore faunas
throughout most of the Cenozoic. Here we present initial data collected from Eocene and Oligocene fossil
localities in the West Atlantic-Caribbean region. Fossils of aquatic herbivores collected from these
deposits include multiple species from three separate families of Sirenia, including the earliest and most
primitive family, the Prorastomidae. Morphological evidence suggests that the locomotor capabilities,
habitat preferences, and dietary preferences of these species were quite distinct and, when combined with
carbon isotope evidence collected from tooth enamel, may reflect differences in the amount and type of
seagrass included in each species diet.

The following abstracts are of papers and posters presented at the Florida Marine
Mammal Health Conference, University of Florida, Gainesville, 7-10 April 2005. The
conference website has links to PDFs of most of the presentations:

Levels of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Subcutaneous Blubber Samples from the Florida
Manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris).
Bigelow, M.M., Keith, E.O (Oceanographic Center, Nova Southeastern University)
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been recognized as human carcinogens since 1775.
Since that time, PAHs have been shown to have many other deleterious effects, and 16 PAHs have been
listed as priority pollutants by the Environmental Protection Agency in the Clean Water Act. PAHs have a
strong potential to pollute the waters around Florida electricity generating plants due to contaminated
effluents. PAHs are also known to occur in many Florida ports because of large ship bilge pumping.
Because Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris) frequent both power plants and ports, especially
during the cold weather months, there is a high potential for PAH accumulation. In addition, the
characteristic high turbidity of Florida waters causes PAHs to become more bioavailable, and thus
manatees could ingest PAHs when they feed on vegetation with surface PAH accumulations.
Recently manatees have shown symptoms characteristic of PAH accumulation, i.e. impaired immune
responses, prolonged umbilical healing, and eye pathology. To date many studies have been published on
the effects of PAH accumulation in marine mammals, but none have been published on manatees. The
purpose of this study was to conduct an introductory investigation on the levels of PAHs in the Florida
manatee.
Twenty-eight subcutaneous manatee blubber samples were obtained from the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission Marine Mammal Pathobiology Laboratory archive. PAHs were extracted using

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April 2005

an ASE 100 Accelerated Solvent Extraction System (Dionex Corporation, Sunnyvale, CA), and the 16
primary pollutant PAHs were quantified using High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (Perkin-Elmer
Corporation, Boston, MA) with a Vydac 201TP5415 reverse-phase (C18, 5 gm, 4.6 mm ID x 150 mm)
HPLC column (Grace Vydac, Hesperia, CA), and calibrated by comparison to a standard priority pollutant
PAH mixture.
PAHs were found in the concentrations range of 0.001-23.565 ug/g. All animals examined were found
to have at least one priority pollutant PAH, and trace amounts of all 16 priority pollutant PAHs were found
in one animal. These preliminary results indicate that Florida manatees are accumulating PAHs and that
this accumulation may result in deleterious effects on their health, reproduction, and survivability.

Belize Manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus) Epibionts SEM Viewing Techniques
*'Bonde, R. K., 'Lewis, P., Samuelson, D., Self-Sullivan, C., #Auil, N., and #Powell, J. A.
(*U.S. Geological Survey Sirenia Project; +University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine; 'Texas
A&M University; Wildlife Trust)
This is the first reported evidence of epibiont fauna on the skin of West Indian manatees
(Trichechus manatus) outside of Florida and Cuba. Published records only exist for the identity of two
copepods (Harpacticus pulex) observed on the skin of a manatees from southern Florida (Humes 1964) and
(Harpactichecus manatorum) as reported for manatees in Cuba (Ortiz et al. 1992). In both these cases the
copepods were observed on the skin with no tissue reaction. Other than occasional barnacles on the
epidermis of manatees in marine environments throughout their range, there is little documentation of true
ecto-parasitic associations with manatees. This study identifies and details one new ecto-parasitic
association involving the amphipod crustacean (Sinelobus stanfordi) that readily attaches itself firmly into
the epidermis. Additionally, this case documents several additional epibionts (at least one other crustacean,
a bryozoan, a diatom, and a nematode) obtained from the dorsal skin surface scrapings of two manatees
examined off the Drowned Cayes in coastal Belize during May of 2004.
Specimens were preserved and examined using both light dissection and scanning electron
microscopy. All specimens were collected in the course of radio-tagging studies that have been conducted
in Belize since 1997. To date, 77 manatees have been captured repeatedly and valuable health assessment
data have been collected and evaluated for each animal. Ongoing studies are planned for detailed
monitoring of manatees in this region of Central America.

Manatee Protection Rulemaking by the FWC: How the FWC Implements its Statutory Responsibilities
Scott Calleson (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission)
The state of Florida has regulated boat speed and operation to protect manatees since the late
1970s. This management responsibility has been handled by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission (FWC) since 1999. The primary purpose of the regulations, as stated in the Florida Manatee
Sanctuary Act, is to protect manatees from harmful collisions with motorboats and from harassment. The
regulations appear in Chapter 68C-22 of the Florida Administrative Code.
The rule making process can be divided into three basic steps: [1] evaluating manatee use; [2]
evaluating the threats manatees face; and [3] determining the appropriate management actions to address
the threats. This process is usually highly controversial with many boating advocates believing that too
much regulation is being established and many environmental advocates believing that too little regulation
is being established. The FWC is in the middle, charged with the task of finding the appropriate balance.
To meet its statutory responsibilities, the FWC considers many types and sources of information.
For the first step in the process, evaluating manatee use, the statute requires that the FWC determine where
manatee sightings are frequent and the available information supports the conclusion that manatees inhabit
the area on a regular or periodic basis. The information that the FWC uses to make this determination
includes manatee distribution data collected by aerial surveys, manatee tracking (telemetry) studies,
seagrass data, and bathymetry data, to name a few.
Although there can be some controversy associated with the FWC's evaluation of manatee use,
there is typically more controversy over the last two steps in the process, evaluating the threats to manatees
and determining the appropriate actions to take. Both of these latter steps involve an assessment of boating
information, including how boats and manatees are likely to interact in a given area.
The amounts and types of available information on boat use often vary considerably from area to
area. In some parts of Florida, such as Charlotte Harbor and Lee County, there is a substantial amount of
information while in other areas there is very little. Whatever the case may be, the FWC is required to use

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April 2005

the best available information in its rule making process. The primary need is for the FWC to be able to
consider where and how boats are being operated as well as the intensity of boat use. Although other
factors are also considered, areas that are high-use for both boats and manatees are often identified as being
most in need of some form of boat speed regulation.
Using this process, the FWC (or predecessor agencies) has established manatee protection rules in
most areas of Florida that manatees use on a regular basis. Many of the existing rules were established
between 1990 and 1994. The most recent new area to be addressed on a large scale was Tampa Bay, where
rules were adopted in December 2004. The focus of future FWC rulemaking will most likely be on re-
assessing existing rules to determine if changes are needed to either increase, decrease, or reconfigure the
regulations. A considerable amount of effort is being spent investigating ways to evaluate the effectiveness
of existing zones. At the present time there is no clear-cut methodology for how this should be done or
what types of information should or could be used. One management tool that is being investigated is the
development of a risk-assessment model that could provide insight into whether the potential for manatees
to be hit by boats has been affected by regulations.

Structural Properties of Florida Manatee Ribs
Clifton, K.B., Mecholsky, J.J. Jr., and Reep, R.L. (University of Florida)
On average, 25% of all Florida manatees that die each year are killed by boats. Boat strikes
account for 85% of deaths attributed to humans. Reducing watercraft-related mortality is a high priority in
state and federal manatee recovery efforts, which focus primarily on regulating boating activities. In order
to establish safe boat speeds for manatee protection, an estimate of the forces required to fracture their bone
is needed. The goal of this project is to estimate the structural properties of whole manatee ribs. Impact
tests were used to estimate the load required to initiate a fracture, and the amount of energy needed to
fracture whole ribs. Manatee ribs from the mid-thoracic region were impacted with an air cannon.
Fractographic analysis was applied to the fracture surfaces to calculate the loads that led to failure. Loads
ranged from 91-173 MPa. Epoxy casts of the fracture surfaces were used to calculate the fractal dimension
(D*). D* is directly related to the fracture energy of a material; the higher the fractal dimension, the greater
the fracture energy. Preliminary results indicated D* for manatee bone is at the low end of the range for
ceramics, suggesting a low amount of energy is needed to cause fracture. These impact tests will allow us
to determine whether the kinetic energy generated by typical watercraft under normal operation is sufficient
to fracture manatee ribs. This information will contribute to our understanding of manatee-boat
interactions, and will be critical in establishing speed zones adequate to minimize fatal impacts.

Boats, Manatees, Regulation, and Education
Richard 0. Flamm
(Fish & Wildlife Research Institute, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission)
One aim of manatee protection is to reduce the frequency of collisions between vessels and
manatees while minimizing intrusions on the boating experience. Two common approaches for achieving
this aim are education and regulation. Education attempts to encourage desirable behaviors through the
distributing of information and conducting outreach. Regulation seeks to steer individuals away from
undesirable behaviors through the posting of information and the threat of enforcement. One repercussion
of regulation is that conflicts might arise between the regulators and those affected by the regulations. In
contrast, education is considered non-controversial because there are no consequences if the messages are
ignored. Education can complement regulation, but only if it results in shifts toward more environmentally
safe behaviors. To date, very little has been done to assess the efficacy of marine-oriented environmental
education programs. To increase our understanding of educational efficacy, we conducted a study, where
we compared the effects of a boater education program conducted by a local environmental organization
with the effects of regulations implemented by the local government on boating patterns and behavior. We
observed boats and recorded their movements and registration numbers. More than 101,000 boat passes
were observed. In addition, we conducted three telephone surveys over 4 years. The first survey was a
baseline characterization of knowledge and attitudes of the owners of the boats observed in the study areas,
the second evaluated the effectiveness of the education program, and the third measured boater's reactions
to the regulations. Principal results of these surveys were: social norms strongly influenced boater behavior,
boaters preferred education over regulation, and outreach activities by the local environmental group had
no measurable effect on boater intent. After regulatory signs were installed at one site, there was a dramatic
change in boating patterns; fewer vessels transited through the site, boats operated at slower speeds, and

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April 2005

personal watercraft use became uncommon. These results are helping to improve environmental
stewardship approaches and also have implications for management.

Manatees: A Management Mess
Kipp Frohlich (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, 620 South Meridian Street, Tallahassee,
FL 32399; 850 922-4330, kipp.frohlich(aMyFWC.com)
The manatee was first protected in 1893 by the Florida Legislature, making it one of our country's
earliest-protected species. The cornerstone of state manatee protection, however, was laid in 1978 with the
passage of the Florida Manatee Sanctuary Act. This law provides the state the authority to protect manatees
from death or injury. A state trust fund dedicated to manatee and marine mammal conservation has provided
the financial base as the state's program has grown in size and scope and received international recognition.
Throughout the past several decades, management has focused on ways to reduce the risks to manatees from
anthropogenic impacts such as watercraft collisions, coastal development, and crushing in locks and dams.
During this time, as protection measures have been implemented throughout many areas of the state, the
manatee population has grown in size. Concurrently, organized opposition to certain protection strategies
(particularly boat speed zones) has also grown significantly. In the last several years manatee protection has
become Florida's most hotly contested environmental issue, spawning numerous lawsuits and countersuits.
Manatees, their supporters and critics have garnered the attention of state and federal political leaders. In
response to the imbroglio, efforts are now underway to bring opposing stakeholder groups together to try and
create a more civil dialogue, find common ground if possible, and develop ways where groups can work
cooperatively to find lasting solutions.

Of Manatees and Men: Using SOUND Science to Understand and Mitigate the Acoustical and
Sensory Causes for Vessel Collisions
Edmund R. Gersteinl,2 Laura A. Gerstein2, Joseph E. Blue2, and Steven E. Forsythe3
(1Florida Atlantic University, 2Leviathan Legacy Inc., and 3Naval Undersea Warfare Center, 1318 SW
14th Street, Boca Raton, Florida 33486; (561) 338-9185, Gerstein2@aol.com)
A comprehensive series of controlled underwater psychoacoustic tests was conducted to measure
and document the overall hearing abilities of the West Indian manatee. Pure tones, complex noise and real-
world sounds were presented to captive manatees under various acoustical conditions. These studies
yielded the first behavioral audiogram, directional hearing and masked threshold measurements for any
sirenian species. The results from more than 30,000 threshold trials definitively measured the manatees'
overall range of hearing, sensitivity, signal-to-noise thresholds, critical ratios, and directional hearing.
Complementing these investigations, underwater acoustical measurements of manatee habitats and vessel
noise propagation in these environments were conducted to evaluate the acoustical factors that can render
Florida manatees vulnerable to repeated collisions with vessels. Physical boundary effects in manatee
habitats severely limit the acoustical propagation of the dominant low frequency spectra produced by most
watercraft. The manatees' auditory constraints together with shallow water and near surface propagation
limits dictate that the noise produced by slow-moving boats is more difficult for manatees to hear and
locate than the louder and higher frequency spectra produced by cavitating faster-moving vessels. In clear-
water habitats, where boaters and manatees can effectively see and actively avoid each other, slow speed
zones may be effective and appropriate. Unfortunately, this strategy and other measures that are reliant
upon visual feedback or surveillance are not effective during periods of poor visibility or in turbid water
conditions, and do not address the underlying acoustical challenges manatees and other passive listening
marine mammals face. Ironically, such intuitive strategies, derived by visually biased species such as
ourselves, can be counter-productive. Slow speed zones implemented in turbid waterways can exacerbate
the problem, making vessels more difficult or impossible for manatees to hear, while increasing vessel
transit times and the subsequent opportunities for collisions. Acoustical masking from typical ambient
conditions, and the noise of distant faster-moving boats, can further obscure the quieter sounds of
approaching slow-moving vessels. With all these auditory detection challenges, perhaps the most deceptive
acoustical challenge manatees and even the "great whales" share is "acoustical shadowing." This
phenomenon occurs when the noise produced by a ship's propellers is blocked from projecting forward by
the ship's hull. The effect is prominent when propellers are positioned above keel level. In these instances
a large silent area (an acoustical shadow) is cast directly ahead (at the bow) of an approaching tug, barge or
large ship. Animals swimming or resting near the surface in a direct path with such a vessel will not hear

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its approach, while animals off to the side that can detect the vessel may then seek refuge by swimming
directly in front of the approaching vessel where it is quiet.
By exploiting the manatee's best hearing capabilities, a very low intensity, highly directional, and
thus environmentally sensitive acoustic warning device has been developed for attachment to boats, barges
and larger slow-moving vessels. While manatees are not adapted for hearing or locating the dominant
spectra from these watercraft, they are very well equipped to detect and locate higher-frequency modulated
sounds. This hearing sensitivity provides a narrow sensory window through which to alert manatees of
approaching vessels. The efficacy of this technological approach will be evaluated through controlled tests
with wild manatees. A similar directional array that utilizes modulated ship noise is under development to
selectively fill-in acoustical shadows ahead of vessels to alert whales near the surface of approaching ships.

Characterization of Boat Traffic Patterns and Boater Compliance
Jay Gorzelany (Mote Marine Laboratory)
A better understanding of recreational boating patterns and boater behavior is critical to the long-
term survival of the Florida manatee. A great deal of effort at the federal, state, and local levels has been
placed on reducing collisions with manatees by regulating boating through the use of speed-restricted zones
and exclusion areas. In spite of recent protection efforts, boat strikes remain the most significant problem
faced by manatees in Florida (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2001), and still account for 25-33% of the
annual manatee mortality. Along with human pressure on Florida's natural system comes increasing
recreational pressure; primarily more boats and increased access to waterways. Consequently a great deal
of effort has been placed on reducing manatee boat-strike deaths by regulating boating through the use of
speed-restricted zones and exclusion areas. Speed zone effectiveness, and the extent to which speed zones
change boater behavior, are unclear.
A series of recreational boat traffic and boater compliance studies have been performed in
southwest Florida over the past eight years. These studies have included both aerial boat traffic surveys,
and fixed-point boat traffic and compliance studies. Aerial surveys are useful in determining the spatial
distribution of boat traffic within a specific area. This includes the identification of popular boating
destinations, high-use areas, and travel corridors. Temporal patterns can also be identified, including daily,
weekly, and seasonal use patterns. Aerial survey data are also used to create GIS layers which can be
merged with other database layers to identify areas of potential resource conflict. This also serves as an
important management tool which can be used to characterize boater use patterns an important
component in the development of manatee protection plans. Finally, these data may be used to identify and
document potential changes in boater behavior and travel patterns resulting from regulatory changes in a
given area.
Studies of boater compliance are useful in determining the effectiveness of a posted speed-
regulated area. Results to date have indicated the levels of compliance tend to be site-specific, and may be
related to variations in local use patterns, traffic volume, vessel composition, sign placement, level of
regulation, and enforcement presence. The relative proportion of boater compliance may be less important than
the absolute number of non-compliant boaters in a given area. In high-traffic areas, for instance, the level of
compliance may be high, but the absolute number of non-compliant boaters may still pose a significant threat to
manatees. Acceptable levels of non-compliance have not been established. A more reasonable determination
may be to assess the level of non-compliance an area can sustain before manatee protection becomes a serious
concern, and this will likely vary from location to location. Recently, compliance studies conducted prior to
newly established regulatory sign placement have provided additional insight as to their effect on reducing boat
speeds. Additional studies of boater compliance in other areas are likely needed in order to 1) provide important
baseline information for the development of future management plans, 2) test and evaluate the effectiveness of
existing management plans, and 3) assist in the identification and assessment of areas of potential
human/manatee resource conflicts.

Immunohistochemical Localization in Wounded Manatee Integument
*Graham, AR., *Samuelson, D.A. and *Lewis, P.A. (*University of Florida)
Through the use of a number of antibodies, both monoclonal and polyclonal, it was the hope of
this research to understand wound response in the integument of the Florida manatee that could possibly
lead to the development of a wound healing timeline. To detect the occurrence of angiogenesis, polyclonal
antibodies for vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 (VEGFR-1) and vascular endothelial growth
factor receptor 2 (VEGFR-2) were used. To determine if there was any wound contraction going on the

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monoclonal antibody for smooth muscle actin was used. Monoclonal antibodies for matrix
metalloproteinases 2 and 9 (MMP2, MMP9) were applied to wounded tissues to observe active breakdown
and/or reconstruction of the extracellular matrix within the dermis.
All wounded tissue samples were fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin for 24 hours, placed into
phosphate buffered saline solution, and routinely processed for paraffin embedding. Sections were cut at 6
microns, deparaffinized and appropriately prepared for immunohistochemical localizations. Localization
procedures varied in the use of antibodies, detection kits, incubation times, and chromagen used. Negative
controls were used in all localizations, and normal manatee specimens were used for a comparison. All
immunohistochemical localizations were successful and yielded positive results. All of the wounded
samples reacted positively more than the reaction of normal samples. The wounded samples varied with
expression of antibodies based on the stage of wound healing. Although a timeline is not yet possible to
develop due to the preliminary nature of the study, this research has formed a solid baseline for continued
investigation on the wound healing of the Florida manatee. Moreover, the successful localization of both
VEGF receptors and both MMPs, 2 and 9, in the skin encourages the further use of commercially available
antibodies for future immunolocalization studies in this species.

Histological Comparison of Manatee and Elephant Integument
Graham, AR*, Samuelson, DA*, Isaza, R*, and Lewis, PA* (*Univ. of Florida College of Veterinary
Medicine)
The integument of mammals is in direct contact with an external, shaping environment that serves
to determine its structure and functions. In mammals the skin acts as a barrier to the environment but also
has several other roles, such as preventing dehydration and temperature regulation. In marine mammals,
specifically, the skin is involved in drag reduction and buoyancy control. Modifications of the skin can be
used for reproductive or feeding purposes as well.
The manatee's closest living terrestrial relative is the elephant. These two mammals have different
external appearances and live in completely different habitats. The manatee is completely aquatic, and the
elephant is completely terrestrial. Elephants have been known to be attracted to the water; even to depths
well over their heads. Fossil evidence and molecular data have provided the association between these
seemingly unrelated orders of mammals. The specialized, unique morphology of the wrist bones organized
serially, their horizontal tooth replacement, and experiments with amino acid sequencing of proteins all
have proven the manatee and elephant are related.
Samples were collected from 25 sites of the body, including both dorsal and ventral regions where
applicable. Analogous sites of the elephant were used for this histological comparison. These samples were
analyzed morphologically through paraffin embedding, using a variety of stains including special stains for
the extracellular matrix. The manatee and elephant have some similarities in their integuments, including
epidermal organization and overall thickness. It is interesting to note that the stratum granulosum of the
epidermis is mostly underdeveloped in the elephant and non-existent in the manatee. Though similar in
some ways the manatee skin is more irregular with respect to its hyperplastic characteristics of the
epidermis as well as hyperkeratosis. The dermis of the manatee and elephant vary in anatomical
architecture and density as well, being more organized and pronounced in development in the manatee,
especially in specific regions such as the fluke.

Vascularization of the Cornea in the Florida Manatee
J.Y. Harper, D.A. Samuelson, and P.A. Lewis (Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, College of
Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610-0126)
This study continues the investigation of corneal angiogenesis of the Florida manatee (Trichechus
manatus latirostris). We have consistently found the presence of blood vessels within the corneas of every
animal that has been examined. In all specimens, no signs of infection or injury were present. In order to
determine the amount of angiogenesis that has occurred in these individuals and observe possible vascular
patterns within the anterior stroma and adjacent epithelium, that may or may not result in visual hindrance,
corneas from a mixed population of Florida manatees were assessed both histologically and by three-
dimensional (3-D) reconstruction.
Twenty-six eyes from 22 manatees including one fetus were provided by the Florida Marine
Research Institute (FMRI) in St. Petersburg, FL along with additional information, including gender, size,
location and time when the animal was found. All eyes were preserved in 10% formalin. Corneal
specimens were measured and notched for orientation and embedded in paraffin. Each cornea was serially

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sectioned having used a frontal approach. Sections were stained with Masson's trichrome and 3-D
reconstructions of the vasculature where performed, all at 25X (Fig. 1) and 3 at 200X, the latter having
been divided into dorsal, ventral, medial and lateral quadrants. Vessels were morphometrically evaluated
for percent volume of total tissue.
Blood vessels were found in all corneas, having varied in location and to a lesser extent in shape
and size even between corneas of the same individual. A network of vessels was observed in both corneas
of the fetus. Vasculature at 200X was similar to that at 25X in that the vessels did not form repeating
patterns and appeared randomly distributed in the examined region. The vascular patterns at 200X occupied
more volume, 0.1-5.3% vs. 0.1-1.2%, and were smaller in average diameter, 27 mm vs. 84 mm.
Additionally, vessels could be observed frequently penetrating the anterior epithelium from the stroma with
the higher magnification reconstructions. The level of detailed vascularization could not be detected at
25X. Examination of the specimens at 400X and 1000X revealed the presence of small blood vessels next
to and within the anterior epithelium.
The statistics were calculated using the SAS computer program by means of a one-way ANOVA.
The effect of gender (male versus female), age class (calf, juvenile, or adult), coast found (east versus
west), and season found (Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter) based on blood vessel as a percent of the total
volume (which was calculated using the MCIP computer program) of tissue was examined in 20
individuals. The unknown and fetus samples were not used. In the case of three individuals where both
eyes were examined, the average between the two eyes was taken. There was no significant gender effect
found (F1,18=1.34, P=0.2622); no significant age class effect found (F2,17 =0.82, P=0.4588); no
significant coast effect found (F1,18=0.07, P=0.7996); and no significant season effect found (F3,16=0.30,
P=0.8259).
In the absence of edema, inflammation, or any other abnormalities, the presence of blood vessels
in all specimens including the fetus suggests that corneal vascularization in the Florida manatee is a
developmental process, possibly related to an usually thick tear film. The greater amount of vessels
detected at the highest magnification was due to the ability to visualize and trace small vessels. The size
and density of the small vessels were most likely too small to interfere with light transmission and are most
likely not affecting manatees' ability to survive in their different aquatic environments.

Acute Phase Proteins
Harr, K.E. (Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida,
Gainesville, FL 32610)
Inflammation is a response to a perceived pathogen or severe tissue trauma that enables the body
to maintain homeostasis. The acute phase response (APR) is a nonspecific component of inflammation
(infection, autoimmune disease, etc.) or tissue damage (trauma, surgery, or tumors). Leukocyte (white
blood cell) count and fever are relatively sensitive indicators of systemic, innate inflammation and infection
in many mammalian species including humans. In a few species, e.g., cattle and manatees, leukocytosis and
left shifting (increased immature cell types) do not occur unless disease is severe and then may rapidly
progress to leukopenia as leukocyte utilization exceeds bone marrow production. For this reason, leukocyte
count, though occasionally useful in bovids and manatees, is not a sensitive indicator of inflammation.
Additionally, adequately assessing the core temperature of a 500 kg aquatic animal is inaccurate at best.
Positive APR proteins (serum amyloid A (SAA), haptoglobin, C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, alphal acid
glycoprotein, and others) are produced by the liver during APR in response to cytokines released at the site
of injury to either protect the body or to combat a potential pathogen. In humans, APR proteins (APP) are
nonspecific indicators of disease similar to fever or leukocyte counts. Plasma concentrations of the
individual proteins change at different rates after the initial insult thus providing useful information not
only about the inflammation, but also about duration of disease. Sequential measurement can also aid in
assessment of treatment response.
Acute phase response (APR) proteins, such as SAA and haptoglobin, are used as a primary
indicator in horses and cattle because APR proteins have proven to be sensitive measures of internal
inflammation/infection. In Europe, appropriate APR proteins are used as screening tests for inflammatory
disease in livestock. SAA has proven to be a valuable screening diagnostic for inflammation in manatees.
Several practical factors must be considered when identifying and validating an APR protein for
diagnosis of inflammation in manatees. These include physiologic activity of the protein within manatees,
stability of the protein over time during transport with potential temperature change, accuracy of the

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methodology employed in identifying the protein in this species, and clinical use in different disease states
specific to manatees. All of these factors must be evaluated prior to clinical use as a diagnostic test.
Serum Amyloid-A. Serum amyloid-A (SAA) is produced by the liver in inflammatory states and
circulates completed to a lipoprotein. It is also elevated in many autoimmune diseases, polyarthritis,
granulomatous disease, and neoplasia. Deposits of amyloid-A (AA) protein are most often found in the
kidneys, liver, and spleen in chronic disease states but may be found in any organ. In horses, SAA has
been reported to be a very sensitive indicator of inflammation. In equine species, SAA is found in trace
amounts in healthy animals and increases dramatically in nonspecific inflammatory states, especially
bacterial and viral infections.
Haptoglobin. Haptoglobin (Hp) is an alpha2-glycoprotein that irreversibly binds hemoglobin
(Hb). Hp-Hb complexes are large enough to prevent or greatly reduce renal filtration of free Hb in plasma
and its iron. The complexes are removed rapidly by hepatocytes and Kuppfer cells which degrade the
proteins, and iron and amino acids are reutilized. The Hp-Hb complex is also a peroxidase that hydrolyzes
peroxides released by neutrophils at sites of inflammation. Hp also functions as a natural bacteriostatic
agent for iron-requiring bacteria by preventing the utilization of hemoglobin iron by these organisms.
Haptoglobin is quickly consumed in hemolytic syndromes. Severe hepatocellular disease also
results in decreased synthesis of haptoglobin. It is increased during the acute phase response. In humans, it
is also increased in response to exogenous glucocorticoid and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug
(NSAID) administration, during some protein losing syndromes such as nephrotic syndrome, and during
severe biliary obstruction. Haptoglobin is undetectable in the blood of healthy cattle. In cattle with
inflammation or infection, e.g., mastitis, metritis, pyometra, traumatic reticulitis, abomasal displacement,
bacterial nephritis, and hepatic lipidosis, haptoglobin levels increase markedly. It has proven to be a
sensitive indicator of inflammatory disease in cattle.
Fibrinogen. Fibrinogen was the first APR protein recognized. Increased production by the liver
results in increased levels in inflammatory states, as well as pregnancy. It is integral in platelet aggregation.
In the coagulation cascade, it is cleaved by thrombin to form fibrin, the backbone of the thrombus. Though
only mildly increased concentrations are present in many species during inflammatory disease, it has
proven very useful in detecting inflammation in ruminant species, specifically cattle. Clinical reports from
Sea World veterinarians indicate that hyperfibrinogenemia is also the diagnostic of choice in Cetacea.
Hypofibrinogenemia can occur in disseminated intravascular coagulation, liver failure, and cachexia.
A heat precipitation method is used as a quick estimate of fibrinogen concentration. More
accurate methods include modifications of the Ratnoff-Menzie assay, measurement of clot weight, and
quantification of immunoprecipitate formed with specific antifibrinogen antisera.

Techniques for Establishing a Cell Culture and Cytogenetic Characterization of the Florida
Manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostis
'Kellogg M.E., 2Gray B.A., 3Duke G.D., 4Pause K.C., 5Bonde R.K., and 6McGuire P.M.
('Dept. of Physiological Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Univ. of Florida; 2Dept. of Pediatrics,
Division of Genetics, Univ. of Florida; 3ICBR Hybridoma Core Laboratory, Univ. of Florida; 4Dept. of
Genetics, Univ. of Florida; 5U.S. Geological Survey, Florida Caribbean Science Center, Gainesville,
Florida; 6Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Univ. of Florida)
The Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris, is an endangered subspecies of the West
Indian manatee and is found in the coastal waters and lagoons of Florida. In an effort to better understand
the molecular nature of manatee chromosomes, cell cultures were established. Cartilage and kidney tissue
were collected at necropsy shortly after euthanasia on animal SWFTm9728b, an adult male with extensive
boat strike injuries. Primary cell cultures were established, subcultured and cryopreserved. A high-
resolution karyotype was prepared using GTG-banded chromosomes. The chromosomes from these cell
cultures will facilitate additional cytogenetic analyses.

Observations on Digesta Passage Rates in the Florida Manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris)
Larkin, I. L. V.', Gasson, V.2 and Reep R. L. 1 (1University ofFlorida; 2University of Wales Swansea)
The Florida manatee, Trichechus manatus latirostris (Sirenia: Trichechidae), is an herbivorous
marine mammal found within coastal areas throughout the state of Florida, feeding on both fresh and salt
water sea grasses. Manatees, like other Sirenia, are a tropical species with little tolerance for water
temperatures below 680 F, rely on a relatively poor nutritional food source, and have a low metabolic rate.
Although manatees are hind-gut herbivores, they are very efficient at extracting nutrients from the plants on

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which they feed. Slow passage rates of digesta have been suggested to be a factor in this increased
efficiency. This study monitored the digesta passage times and mixing of particulate digesta within the
manatee digestive tract using MicroGrits colored corn as a fecal marker. Captive Florida manatees were
fed red MicroGrits on three consecutive mornings, followed by blue MicroGrits for a further three
mornings. Fecal samples were subsequently collected and grit pieces removed, counted and measured.
The digesta passage times for the three manatees included in the study ranged from 5.4 8 days, similar to
other studies previously conducted. Less than 1% of the marker fed was recovered. Minimal to no mixing
of the two different colored markers fed and recovered suggest the digesta from a given day traveled
through the tract as a bolus It is hypothesized that the majority of the 99% of marker not recovered was
retained in the perpendicular folds of the large intestine and digested, but some may also have been lost to
coprophagy, missed fecal samples at night, and to the filtration system.

Vocalizations and Hearing in Florida Manatees
*+Mann, D., ANowacek, D., +Colbert, D., +Gaspard, J., *Cook, M., *Casper, B., ~ Reep, R. and #+Bauer,
G. (*University of South Florida, +Mote Marine Laboratory, ...- College of Florida, ^Florida State
University, -University of Florida)
Two approaches to reduce boat collisions with manatees have been to study the sounds produced
by manatees so that detection devices to warn boaters could be devised, and to study the hearing abilities of
manatees to understand what sounds they can detect.
Manatee vocalizations are relatively stereotypical in that they are short tonal harmonic complexes
with small frequency modulations at the beginning and end. Vocalizations range from almost pure tones to
broader-band tones with a raspy quality. The loudest frequency is typically the second or third harmonic.
Signal parameters measured from calls of manatees from Belize and Florida show they have overlapping
distributions of sound duration, peak frequency, harmonic spacing, and signal intensity, indicating no
obvious distinguishing characteristics between these isolated populations. Data on vocalization rates
suggest that manatees vocalize more often in the presence of snorkelers, and in one case a vocal interaction
was recorded between a snorkeler and a manatee. The nature of manatee sounds makes them fairly easy to
automatically detect with a computer system. A real-time signal-processing scheme for detecting manatee
vocalizations was implemented and able to detect these vocalizations. Further research needs to be done to
determine how often and under what circumstances manatees vocalize.
Manatee hearing was studied with auditory evoked potential (AEP) techniques, which involve
playing sounds to a manatee and simultaneously measuring the response of the brain to the sounds. AEP
amplitudes measured from manatees are relatively small in comparison to what can be measured from
cetaceans, presumably because the manatee brain is located deep within the head. AEP audiograms
underestimate hearing thresholds measured with behavioral techniques, however the overall audiogram
shape is similar. Temporal resolution measurements made with AEP techniques show that manatees have a
temporal resolution intermediate between that of humans and cetaceans. Sound pathways in the manatee
body have also been mapped with AEP techniques to determine if there are specific acoustic pathways to
the ear, like those found in dolphins. Results from these studies suggest that there are multiple sound
pathways to the ear.

Manatees and Boats Can Co-exist
Captain Tom McGill
(254 Sykes Point Lane, Merritt Island, FL 32953-3067; 321-453-1218, capttom(tcfl.rr.com)
Understanding the root cause of a problem is requisite to solving it. Solutions implemented to
protect manatees from vessel collisions have suffered from insufficient understanding of the problem and a
resistance to accept data that challenges long-held beliefs. Despite more than a decade of slow speed
restrictions, the rate of manatee mortality associated with watercraft collisions has not declined and it has
remained constant and in some instances has even increased following the implementation of speed
restrictions. Though the collision problem remains, sound scientific evidence vital to our understanding and
which questions speed zone policy has been ignored by regulators and the Save the Manatee Club. Until
recently, the physics of vessel noise propagation in shallow water and irrefutable data on manatee hearing,
had been dismissed or rejected in favor of less rigorous and anecdotal observations more in line with
traditional held beliefs and assumptions. Many of the efforts to protect the manatee have been based on the
unsupported assumptions that both excessive vessel speed and increasing numbers of registered vessels are
the primary causes of watercraft-related mortality. The validity of these assumptions has never been tested,

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and the effectiveness of regulations based on these assumptions has never been evaluated. The recorded
increase in the manatee population during the past 30 years and the direct correlation between an increasing
manatee population and the associated increase in total mortality and the increase in watercraft-related
mortality has been ignored and distorted. Inappropriate use and representation of available data have
resulted in prejudicial regulatory decisions based on opinion rather than actual science and has led to a
general lack of trust in a large segment of the general population. If the driving force behind the regulatory
process can be shifted from being based on opinion to being based on science and using available
technology, then the manatee will not only continue to co-exist with boats, it may thrive in a world where
manatee-boat collisions will be dramatically reduced.

Rehabilitation of a Manatee Calf in Quintana Roo, Mexico
* Morales-Vela, B.,+ Benitez-Garcia, M., and Padilla-Saldivar, J. A.
(* El Colegio de la Frontera Sur. Av. Centenario km 5.5, C. P. 77900. Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico; +
Africam Safari. Km. 16.5 Blvd. Cap. Carlos Camacho. Puebla, Puebla, Mexico)
A male manatee calf was found alone on September 14, 2003, in the Guerrero Lagoon, Quintana
Roo, M6xico. For being yet a dependent calf and for not having found an adult manatee that could be the
mother, Dr. B. Morales-Vela decided to transfer the manatee to Chetumal city to take care of it. Since then he
is responsible for the calf's rehabilitation and has the support and authorization of municipal and federal
authorities.
The objectives of this program are: to rehabilitate the manatee so that it can go back and survive in
the wild, and to obtain knowledge and experience about manatee rehabilitation methods and procedures.
The calf was named "Daniel" and was kept in a round 3 meter in diameter plastic pool at El
Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR) facilities for 8 months. A filter and temperature system was attached
to the pool to have a strict water quality and temperature control. Another PVC tubes system was put into
the pool for water circulation in the same direction of the Coriolis force.
"Daniel" was fed each 3 hours day and night with a modified formula based on the Sea World
formula for manatees. We began with next formula: 500 gr of Multi-milk, 1 liter of water, 60 ml of canola
oil, and 1/2 taurine capsule. Formula was changing because it was very dense and "Daniel" had problems to
defecate. The formula that we continue using since November 2003 is next: 200 gr of Multi-milk, 1 liter of
water, and 36 ml of canola oil. Daily consumption by May 2004 was about 1100 ml of formula. Lettuce
was offered to "Daniel" but he did not like to eat it.
"Daniel" was taken out of the pool to assess him once a week. Weight and length were measured
and clinical samples were taken. When "Daniel" was found in September 2003, he weighted 21 kg and was
108 cm length. In May 2004 his weight was 60.5 kg and his length was 140 cm.
In May 2004 "Daniel" was transferred to a pen in Guerrero Lagoon, where his rehabilitation
program continues. The first pen was 5 X 5 meters. Night feeding was eliminated. Besides milk formula,
since July 2004 "Daniel" has been fed with liquidized local aquatic vegetation. In November 2004, his
daily consumption reached 1.5 liters of milk and 700 ml of liquidized vegetation. Since February 2005
some vegetables (carrots, spinach, tomatoes, broccoli, potatoes) have also been liquidized to be included in
his diet.
Every two weeks "Daniel" is taken out from the pen to weigh and measure him. Every month
blood and other samples are taken for clinical analysis. Results of these have shown that "Daniel" is in
good health condition. In September 2004 (one year old), he weighed 66 kg and his length was 152 cm. In
his last assessment in March 2005, he reached 93 kg and 166 cm. Basic clinical treatments have been
applied to "Daniel". Antibiotics have not been necessary.
A temperature recorder was fixed in the pen in June 2004 for water temperature monitoring.
Records of water temperature have varied from 27 to 330C between June and September 2004. From
October to November 2004 temperature has varied from 24 to 260C.
In September 2004, another pen was built so "Daniel" had more area to swim. A larger rectangle
of 4 X 7 meters in which depth varies from 1 to 1.6 meters was added. Last March, 2005, another larger
pen about 25 X 20 meters was built and "Daniel" is beginning to use it.
Main challenges now are that "Daniel" learn to find and eat solid aquatic vegetation by himself
and that he can survive in the wild interacting with other manatees. Plans and procedures to achieve these
objectives are now developing.

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Acoustic-Based Manatee Avoidance Technology
Christopher Niezrecki, Diedrich 0. Beusse, Michael Meyer, Richard Phillips, and Zheng Yan
The West Indian manatee has become endangered partly because of watercraft collisions in
Florida's coastal waterways. Several boater warning systems, based upon manatee vocalizations, have been
proposed to reduce the number of collisions. One aspect of the feasibility of an acoustically based system
will rely upon the distance in which a manatee vocalization can be detected. The magnitude of
environmental noise and manatee vocalizations, as well as the acoustic spreading properties of the habitat,
are required to estimate the detection range of a manatee avoidance system. Within the presentation,
manatee vocalization levels, sound propagation within the shallow waters of Florida, background noise
levels and sources, and detection ranges are discussed. Techniques that can be used to extend the detection
range by using background noise cancellation are also presented.

Development of Microsatellite DNA Markers for Genetic Studies on the Florida Manatee (Trichechus
manatus latirostris)
TNourisson, C., 'Pause, K. C., "Clark, A. M., *Bonde, R. K., and OMcGuire, P.M.
(-Centre d'Oceanographie de Marseille, France; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,
University of Florida; BEECS Genetic Analysis Laboratory, Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology
Research, University of Florida; United States Geological Survey- Sirenia Project, Florida)
The Florida manatee is an endangered species and, in spite of its dependence on people and artificial
warm water sources during winter, appears to be on its way to recovery. The management of this species
could be improved by incorporating genetic data into the current recovery plan. Due to limitations of
allozymes, mtDNA, and a lack of genetic diversity, previous studies failed to resolve questions regarding the
Florida manatee population structure. This low genetic diversity could be explained by a bottleneck event due
to a decreased population size or a founder effect resulting from a recolonization of their range after the last
glaciation (approximately 12,000 years ago). Microsatellites are known to show high levels of polymorphism,
even in small populations with low diversity, as is often the case with an endangered species. Microsatellites
are genomic DNA markers with a repetition of a short sequence (1-5 base pairs). These markers can be used
for individual identification (DNA fingerprints), pedigree studies, assessment of general population structure
and status, and various other applications. Microsatellites vary among different species, and therefore must be
designed and tailored to fit each species being examined.
This study requires the development of additional microsatellite primers due to the low allelic
diversity of previously published primers. Microsatellite libraries, previously developed for USGS, have
been screened for additional loci. Among the primers developed from these libraries, four appear to be
polymorphic for the Florida population. These markers will be fluorescently labeled and tested on a larger
set of manatee samples from different regions throughout Florida. Additional microsatellite libraries are
being produced in an effort to identify more polymorphic loci.

Serological Survey of Infectious Disease Agents and Parasites in Wild Manatee (Trichechus manatus)
in Coastal Quintana Roo, Campeche and Tabasco, Mexico
*Sanvicente, M., *Morales-Vela, B. and **Serrano, A. (* El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, ** Universidad
Veracruzana; msanvicente@animail.net, benjamin morales@usgs.gov, arturo serrano@msn.com)
The West Indian manatee is protected in Mexico by the Ecological Act of 1994, under which it is
classified as a species in danger of extinction. Despite this, the health status of the manatee populations has
not been evaluated in the country yet. In recent years, however, some infectious diseases such as
Mycobacterium marinum, Toxoplasma gondii, and Brucella spp have been reported in manatees in Florida.
Also, in Florida and Puerto Rico, some endoparasites such as Heterocheilus heterocheilus and Chiorchis
groschofti are commonly found in manatees.
The present study was aimed at detecting the presence of infectious disease agents and parasites in
manatees living off the coasts of Quintana Roo, Campeche and Tabasco, in Mexico. This was done as a
first step toward the evaluation of their health status. The study sites were Chetumal Bay, Ascenci6n Bay
in Quintana Roo, and the delta of the Usumacinta River in Tabasco and Campeche. These three areas are
home to the largest populations of manatees in Mexico.
To determine the presence of antibodies of infectious agents potentially harmful to manatees and
the presence of oocytes of endoparasites, we captured 23 manatees: 15 in Chetumal Bay; 4 in Ascenci6n
Bay; and 4 in Tabasco. We collected 50-ml blood samples in vacutainer tubes containing SST and Lithium
heparine. Serum samples were stored in cryovials and kept frozen at -200C. We ran microscopic

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April 2005

agglutination tests (MAT) against 12 serovars of Leptospira interrogans and against Toxoplasma gondii.
To detect the presence of antibodies specific to Brucella abortus we ran card agglutination tests at 3 and
8%, as well as a complement fixation test (FCT). Feces were also collected and analyzed to determine the
presence of endoparasites using the sedimentation and McMaster test. The tests were performed at the
Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Immunology (Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de M6xico).
Twenty of 23 manatees (87%) tested positive to one or more of the 12 serovars of Leptospira
interrogans. This high frequency was similar between sexes: 12 of 13 females (92%), and 10 of 11 males
(91%) were positive. The most common antibodies detected were those against serovars bratislava (65%),
grippothyphosa (43%), tarassovi (30%), autumnalis (28%) and pomona (28%). The serovars betavia,
icterohaemorrhagiae, canicola, hardjo, pyrogenes were less common with 17, 13, 9, 9, and 4%
respectively. No individual was found positive to serovars celledoni and. '.- 3705. Three females (13%)
were positive to T. gondii and only one female (4%) was positive to B. abortus. No male tested positive to
either T. gondii or B. abortus. Only two endoparasites were found in the feces: Heterocheilus
heterocheilus and Chiorchis groschofti, but they appeared at high frequencies (97% for H. heterocheilus
and 71% for C. groschofti). However, pathologies are rarely associated with these parasites. Clinical signs
of disease or active infections due to these bacteria, protozoan and parasites have not been described in
wild populations of manatees. Our results suggest that further investigation is required to elucidate the role
of L. interrognas in the health status of the Caribbean manatee in the study region.

Cytochrome Oxidase Staining Reveals Topographical Organization of Manatee Cerebral Cortex
*Sarko, D.K., and *Reep, R.L. (*University of Florida, Department oj ... in..... ...., Gainesville, FL)
Manatee primary somatosensory, auditory and visual areas were previously localized using
cytochrome oxidase (CO) staining on a neonatal postmortem Florida manatee brain. In order to extend
these findings, we performed CO staining on the flattened left hemisphere of a juvenile postmortem Florida
manatee brain, and on coronal sections from the right hemisphere. Adjacent sections from both
hemispheres were stained with cresyl violet and used for cytoarchitectural orientation. Both the neonate
and the juvenile show similar trends overall but with some distinctions. The frontal region of both reveals
dense CO patches that are present within, but do not span the extent of, cytoarchitectural areas CL1, CL2,
DL1, DL2, and DD. These areas represent presumptive primary somatosensory area Si. However, in the
neonate there are four distinct patches which may represent tail, body, flipper and face, whereas the
corresponding juvenile patches appear to be blended and extend caudally towards the lateral fissure. The
temporal lobe reveals dense CO staining that represents the presumptive primary auditory area in areas
CL1, CL2 and CL3 of both the neonate and the juvenile. Within the occipital lobe, CO staining is dense in
areas DD2, DL3, and DL4 (presumptive primary visual cortex) as well as area CL4 (presumptive visual
association cortex). However, distinct patches of CO-rich visual cortex are present in the neonate but
appear to be blended into one patch in the juvenile. These findings also hold true in the preliminary
analysis of a second adult specimen and indicate a general outline of SI, Al, and VI topography that is
consistent across specimens as well as the possibility of some level of refinement and reorganization
through development.

Mapping and Characterizing Recreational Boating Patterns for Marine Resource Management
Charles Sidman, 'Bill Sargent ( Florida Sea Grant, + FWCC, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute)
Boating is a key element in Florida's coastal lifestyle and a major contributor to the state's
population growth. Florida is the number one destination for marine recreation with an estimated 22 million
participants in the United States. Florida ranks third in the nation in recreational boat registrations-one
boat for every 17 residents. As the quantity of boats that ply coastal waterways increases, so does the need
for improved waterway access and maintenance, greater public safety, improved boater education, and
enhanced resource management. Lack of adequate information has hindered local efforts to plan for
recreational boating. This paper reports on a project to map and characterize spatial patterns of coastal
recreational boating within a geographic information system (GIS).
We mailed a map-based questionnaire to a random sample of 6,500 boaters that actively use the
Tampa and Sarasota Bay boating region. The sample design generated group-specific information for users
of (1) marina wet-slips, (2) dry storage facilities, (3) public ramps, and (4) private docks. Questionnaire
recipients identified trip departure sites, travel routes and favorite destinations on a map. Spatial
information from 1908 returned surveys was digitized into a GIS. Also, descriptive data about boaters
including demographic (e.g., seamanship skills, local knowledge, motivations, and perceptions) and trip

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April 2005

information (e.g., starting time, duration, activities, and frequency) was collected and linked to the spatial
data within the GIS. Descriptive and spatial analyses highlight use according to user-group, vessel type,
vessel draft, and activity. It is intended that this information will be used to help locate boating
infrastructure, and to support waterway management and manatee protection plans.

Boats and Manatees: Cooperation and Coexistence A Broken Dream?
Ken Stead (Southwest Florida Marine Industries Association, 1314 North Tamiami Trail, P.O. Box 1510,
North Fort Myers, Florida 33902; 239-656-7083/1 "-#, ken(@swfmia.com)
When public policy is developed to influence human behavior under the umbrella of unreasonable
and unachievable laws, and those laws are interpreted by lawsuit settlements, the process is doomed to
failure. Valuable resources are squandered, doing nothing to enhance manatee protection. Interpreting
what constitutes a "take" under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act is the
essence of the problem. In the case of manatee lawsuit settlements the focus has primarily concentrated on
boating. New terms were developed, such as "areas of inadequate protection", without defining what
adequate was. Policy changes appeared to be knee-jerk reactions to manatee mortality. Speed zones,
manatee protection plans, etc. were developed under the guidance of these settlements without adequate
data that demonstrate watercraft mortality is reduced by Draconian measures. Boaters and Industry
question the inequity of ignoring the fact that most artificial warm discharges also constitute a "take" under
the Marine Mammal Protection Act. If the focus of the Endangered Species Act is the recovery of the
species, why after decades of research, isn't there accurate population information? When policy makers
make decisions that are viewed as illogical or arbitrary, it fosters a greater lack of trust and compliance.
Today, boaters and the marine industry are faced with a dilemma. In the desire to be proactive and work on
balanced solutions to protect the manatee, hard-found compromises collectively agreed upon in good faith
are not honored and arbitrarily discarded. Manatee Forums are created by the agencies in an attempt to
bring parties together, yet manatee advocates continue to file lawsuits that drive decisions that keep moving
the bar. The end of the rope has been reached. In Lee County, a recently adopted consensus Manatee
Protection Plan is being challenged. Assessing the effectiveness of protective measures is paramount.
There is only one way to achieve a "buy in" by all the stakeholders and that is to restore confidence in the
applied "science" and "protection measures". If that isn't done, there are not enough financial resources to
"force" compliance. Until everyone focuses on the recovery of the species with a clear goal of what that is;
stops the litigation and works openly and cooperatively, efforts to protect the species will not work.

Supporting Science-Based Strategies in a Politically Motivated World An Advocacy Group's
Perspective on the Boater/Manatee Conflict
Suzanne Tarr (Save the Manatee Club, Maitland, 500 N. Maitland, Florida 32751; 407-539-0990,
www. savethemanatee. org)
Save the Manatee Club advocates for science-based decisions and management strategies that will
best protect manatees and manatee habitat, and will lead to the recovery of the species including a
sustainable, viable population and the restoration and preservation of habitat over the long-term. Advocacy
groups play an important role in supporting science-based conservation efforts by speaking up for the
science, holding decision makers accountable, and disseminating accurate information to the community.
While science should "speak for itself," the reality is often science is not understood by, or is ignored by
groups influencing policy makers who, in turn, make political, short-term decisions for long-living, slowly
reproducing species like the Florida manatee. Further, countless hours that could be spent working on
research and management strategies are expended in a continuing attempt to create "buy-in" from groups
who actively work against manatee protection. In terms of the boat/manatee conflict, this narrow focus on
creating buy-in may lead to unnecessary controversy, the weakening of much-needed protection measures,
and the diversion of funding from high priority research goals to low priority research goals. Part of the
solution to the boat/manatee conflict is agencies must do a better job explaining the science to the
layperson, defending the science, and letting science, not politics, dictate research and management
strategies and priorities.

Fatty acid signature analysis (FASA) has become an important tool by which marine mammal
scientists gain insight into foraging ecology. FASA is also an extremely promising biomarker by which
marine mammalogists may be able to assess exposure to certain natural and anthropogenic stressors.
Florida manatees are well studied, and an excellent necropsy program provides a basis against which to
ground-truth this promising tool. Preliminary results on manatees assigned to four cause-of-death
categories indicate that those exposed to or dying due to brevetoxin exposure demonstrate a unique fatty
acid profile and animals suffering long-term health stress have certain fatty acids not found in animals that
die quickly. If further study demonstrates that exposure to harmful algal blooms, contaminants, or other
factors provides a clear and diagnostic fatty acid profile in manatee livers, this approach could: a) provide
an additional forensic tool to assist scientists and managers to understand cause of death or debilitation in
manatees; and b) serve as a model that could be subsequently applied to studies designed to better assess
cause of death in other marine mammals.

The Potential for Underwater Infrared Video Cameras to Reduce Boater-Induced Mortality of the
Florida Manatee
Wright, L. and Keith, E.O. (Oceanographic Center, Nova Southeastern University)
In calendar year 2004, watercraft-related mortality was the second leading cause of death of the
Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris), accounting for 25% of total known manatee deaths.
Such watercraft-related mortality is defined by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission as
IIuaincc hit by boats, barges or any type of watercraft. Death may result from propeller wounds, impact,
crushing, or any combination of the three". In an attempt to reduce this significant cause of manatee
mortality, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute has instituted two rounds of Manatee Avoidance
Technology grants. Herein we report on the preliminary results of the evaluation of underwater infrared
video cameras to detect captive manatees and other non-living targets. If such cameras are found to detect
manatees at sufficient distances, they could be mounted in the bows of watercraft and the resultant images
could be projected at the helm of the vessel, enabling the vessel operator to reduce speed, take evasive
action, or both.
Two types of cameras were examined, 1) a SeaView underwater video camera system from
PowerLinx, St. Petersburg, FL, and 2) an Atlantis underwater camera system (AUW-535C) from JJC
Communications, Inc., Englewood, NJ. Preliminary investigations of the ability of these cameras to detect
small objects indicated that their resolution decreased with distance from the target and depth, with the
highest resolution closest to the target at the surface. However, even at optimal depth, the maximum
detection distance for the small target with the Seaview Camera was less than 3 m, and less than 5.5 m for
the Atlantis camera. Thus, the Atlantis camera was marginally better able to detect the small target than
was the SeaView camera.
The cameras were then tested on a plywood silhouette of a manatee placed vertically in the water.
In this case the detection distance increased with depth, being greatest at a depth of 2 m, but in no case was
the detection distance greater than 5 m. As before, the Atlantis camera was marginally better able to detect
the plywood manatee silhouette than was the SeaView camera.
The cameras were then tested using living captive manatees at the Lowry Park Zoo (LPZ). Due to
the clarity of the water at LPZ, manatees were visualized by both cameras at a distance of up to
approximately 5 m, independent of depth. The Atlantis camera was better able to detect the living
manatees than was the SeaView camera. Because these cameras emit infrared light in order to enhance
their water penetration and image detection, there was some concern on the effect of this light on the
manatees. However, the infrared light emitted by the cameras appeared to elicit no alarm or aversion from
the manatees, and in fact seemed to increase their curiosity about the cameras and to attract them to the
cameras. The larger size of the Sea View camera also appeared to draw the attention of the animals to the
camera, and to prompt them to approach it in a playful manner.
The currently available underwater infrared camera technologies evaluated here do not seem to
have sufficient detection distances to enable their immediate incorporation into an operator manatee
awareness system, in order to utilize the cameras as described above. Our plans at this time are to approach
the manufacturers of these cameras to determine if the technology can be enhanced to enable the cameras to
detect manatees at sufficient distance to enable them to be used as described above. We also plan to
evaluate the ability of these cameras to detect free-ranging manatees, once the appropriate permits are
obtained from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Penders, T. 2002. Bone, antler, dentary, and lithic artifacts. In: G.H. Doran (ed.),
Windover: Multidisciplinary investigations of an early archaic Florida cemetery.
Gainesville, University Press of Florida (416 pp.): 97-120. [Reports an atlatl
weight or handle made from a manatee rib, the only manatee bone found in a
clearly dated (7400 years B.P.) archeological context in Florida that was
fashioned into a tool by Pre-Columbian natives.]

Varela, R., and G.D. Bossart. 2005. Evaluation of biochemical analytes in vitreous humor
collected after death in West Indian manatees. Journal of the American Veterinary
Medical Association 226: 88-92.

Yamamuro, M., K. Aketa, and S. Uchida. 2004. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios
of the tissues and gut contents of a dugong from the temperate coast of Japan.
Mammal Study 29(2): 179-183.

SIRENIAN WEBSITE DIRECTORY
(NOTE: Not all of these sites have been visited recently by your Editor, and some may
no longer be active, or their addresses may have changed.)

Sirenews (texts of current and recent issues):
snews.htm>; (for archive of most older
issues)

Sirenews No. 43

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Sirenia Project, U.S. Geological Survey: or
www.nfrcg.gov/sirenia>

Sirenian International, Inc.: [Includes a bibliography of
sirenian literature, and an archive of Sirenews issues.]

Smithsonian Institution sirenian bibliography:
nmnh/sirenia.htm> [This is a relatively short bibliography, compiled by Joy Gold, that
provides a very good introduction to both the technical and the popular literature.]

Steller's sea cow: < http://www.hans-rothauscher.de/steller/steller.htm>. This site also
includes a searchable database of museum collections worldwide that contain bones of
Hydrodamalis gigas: . See
also the website [in Finnish] of Dr. Ari Lampinen, Univ. of Jyvaskyla, Finland:

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